The loss dropped Toronto’s record to 6-6 while Montreal is now 8-5 and in the driver’s seat to host the Eastern final.

Argonaut Jeff Johnson is tackled by the Alouettes' Marc-Olivier Brouillette during CFL football action in Montreal Sunday. The Als beat the Argos 31-10.

By:Bob MitchellSports Reporter, Published on Sun Sep 23 2012

MONTREAL—The Argonauts will know later this week if they have more to worry about than just missing a glorious chance to capture first place in the CFL East after a lopsided 31-10 loss to the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday.

They might have to play for the foreseeable future without No. 1 quarterback Ricky Ray, who injured his left knee in the first quarter of a game they needed to win to break the tiebreaker should the Alouettes and Argos finish with identical records.

With Ray on the sidelines in street clothes, the Alouettes made life miserable for the Argos, handing Toronto its worst defeat of the season before an announced crowd of 23,039 at Percival Molson Stadium.

A 129-yard touchdown return by Trent Guy on a missed 41-yard field goal by Swayze Waters put Montreal up 24-6 early in the third quarter en route to the win. Guy also scored on a nine-yard TD catch. Guy made the Argos pay dearly for having his long hair pulled by Toronto’s Mike Bradwell on an earlier punt return. There is no penalty for pulling a player’s hair.

Ray will likely get X-rays and a possible MRI to determine the extent of his injury. It seems highly unlikely he will be ready for next Saturday’s game in Winnipeg against the Blue Bombers.

“It was bad enough that I wouldn’t have even considered (putting him back in) and neither would our trainers,” said Argonauts head coach Scott Milanovich. “His knee is banged up. At this point we’re looking at him as day to day.”

Jarious Jackson replaced Ray after the starter went down on his third series. Jackson demonstrated a strong arm and a knack for running the ball but couldn’t produce any touchdowns in taking the only first-team reps he’s had since training camp ended.

“Ricky will be back at some point in the season and playing and whether that’s against Winnipeg or later, that is still to be decided,” said Milanovich, who was obviously disappointed by his team’s poor play. “We’ll have two game plans, one for Jarious and one for Ricky. If Ricky is healthy enough to play, he’ll play but we’re not going to do anything to risk him in the long term. We’re going to play this smart as an organization.

“I thought Jarious did a nice job. For a game plan that wasn’t built around him, he looked like the veteran we decided to bring in. But Montreal deserved to win. We’re not going to make any excuses.”

Jackson completed 15 of 31 passes for 198 yards and one interception. Ray was 3 for 4 for just 30 yards before he went down on the turf.

“You’re always your worst critic as a quarterback and I thought I could have played better,” Jackson said. “We didn’t get the win so I’m disappointed in my performance. The clock is ticking for us. We’ve lost our field general for now so everybody has to pick up the slack as we move forward.”

But there were many reasons why the Argos didn’t put up a better effort, including several dropped balls and the inability of the offence to get into the red zone even once.

“We missed two field goals. We fumbled a snap on another one and one got returned for a TD,” Milanovich said. “We didn’t stop them the entire first half. Offensively we weren’t able to convert second and three about three times. I’m disappointed but good teams rebound and we need to do that against Winnipeg.”

The loss dropped Toronto’s record to 6-6 while Montreal is now 8-5 and in the driver’s seat to host the Eastern final. The two teams meet at the Rogers Centre on Oct. 14.

Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo completed 15 of 29 passes for 315 yards, including a 40-yard TD strike to Victor Anderson and the major to Guy. Anderson, playing in place of No.1 back Brandon Whitaker, who tore his ACL last week, also scored on a five-yard run. Anderson finished with 76 yards on 17 carries and had another 51 yards on three catches.

About the only bright spot to come out of this mismatch was that Argos slotback Chad Owens surpassed 1,000 yards receiving, the first player in the CFL to hit that mark this season and the first Toronto player to do since Arland Bruce in 2008. Owens finished with 87 yards on six catches. Montreal receiver J.S. Green also went over the 1,000-yard receiving mark in the game, catching 79 yards on four catches.

With Jackson directing Toronto’s offence after Ray went down, all the Argos could muster were field goals of 34 and 35 yards by Waters. Montreal kicker Sean Whyte also kicked a 12-yard field goal.

Waters also missed two other field goals as Montreal took a 17-6 lead into the second half.

Toronto running back Chad Kackert returned after missing last week’s 28-23 loss to the B.C. Lions. He gained 84 yards on 13 carries.

The Alouettes struck first when Calvillo hit Anderson with a screen pass and he romped 40 yards into the end zone on their first series of the game. It was the seventh opening-drive touchdown of the season for the Alouettes.

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